Occupying five acres and with over one million square feet of selling space, Harrods is the biggest department store in Europe. Afternoon tea at the Harrods Tea Rooms is a not to be missed London outing.
During the building of the Hans Road side of Harrods between 1909 and 1911, a new restaurant was planned, up on the fourth floor. Completed in 1911, the year of King George V's coronation, it was named The Georgian in honour of the new king. When it opened, the sheer scale of the restaurant amazed customers, with The Times writing: "The largest restaurant in London, seating 1200 persons at a time...A charming place for lunch or tea."
Just after the First World War, The Georgian was famous for its tea dances. For five shillings, customers could try the latest dance steps on the restaurant's sprung dance floor (now hidden under the carpet). In 1928, the classical Georgian-style interior was lightened by the insertion of an Art Deco skylight with ornamental wrought ironwork and a plasterwork frieze of stylised ferns and fountains.
Between the wars, it was famous for regimental dinners, as few restaurants in London could accommodate so many guests - the annual Royal Engineers' Dinner, for instance, had more than 800 attendees.
Source: @HARRODSFOOD
Here is the menu, as of April 2024:
Mushroom velouté, bay leaf foam, cep
Sliced cucumber with feta cream cheese and lemon on tomato bread
Truffled cacklebean egg mayonnaise with mustard cress on a brioche roll
Faroe Island poached salmon vol-au-vent with creamed horseradish, watercress, and lemon
Coronation Chicken with onion bhaji and baby spinach
Warm Parmesan madeleine with sour cream caviar and chives
Rhubarb tart - vanilla tart shell, rhubarb compote, vanilla sponge, and mascarpone chantilly
Pistachio choux - pistachio choux with pistachio ganache and pistachio praline
Tropical sphere - passion fruit mousse, mango compote, coconut sponge, and crunch sable
Caramel and chocolate delice - chocolate sponge, chocolate ganache, caramel mousse, and caramelised white chocolate chantilly
Plain and raisin scones with clotted cream and Harrods jam
If you're interested in seeing some of the afternoon tea delights up close, check out Jos Atkin's video here.
I've been to London only a handful of times and never had a chance to see Harrods, but running through it for a few minutes. I'm not much of a department store girl, but next time I'll be there I want to see at least the tea room. It sounds amazing!
ReplyDeleteIf you don't have time for afternoon tea, check out the food hall, it's amazing!
DeleteHarrods is one of those places that I have on my list of places that I would love to visit. I didn't even know they did afternoon tea, they sound amazing!
ReplyDelete